Beyond Good & Evil 2 Confirmed In Development

French gaming studio Ubisoft may best be known for publishing such classic game series such as Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia, and Rayman, but one classic game in their repertoire has been consistently overlooked - Beyond Good & Evil. Released in 2003, the game received almost universal praise upon its release, as many critics praised its Zelda-esque action/adventure play style, vibrant world to explore, and its deeply engrossing plot. However, less than stellar sales meant that initial plans for a sequel were put on hold, and fans have been clamoring for Ubisoft to continue work on the project ever since. While no official word from Ubisoft about a sequel has been announced yet, the head developer of the first game has something else to say.

Michel Ancel, who also wrote the engaging story along with head design duties, stated recently at the Toulouse Game Show in France that he has been actively working on a sequel. While obviously eager to return to the world he created almost a decade ago, he also wants to urge fans to be patient, since he doesn't want to make promises he can't keep.

"We are in an active creation stage and at this moment we are only focusing on the game and making it the best game that we can," Ancel said. "That decision would just distracts us from that objective. I can say that it's a very ambitious game and we need some tech to achieve that ambition."

A leaked trailer, shown above, shows what the game may look like in action. From the footage seen so far, the comparison between Mirror's Edge seems quite obvious. When asked if Mirror's Edge had any influence on the seuqel, Ancel had this to say:

"No, not at all. We had this concept even before Mirror's Edge launched. And we have a different approach to the first person perspective that Mirror's Edge has. Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed are closer to what we have in mind with the control of the character in a third person perspective. We use a very dynamic camera that shakes a lot during the action to add life to the camera giving the impression of an action news cover team following Jade. Maybe that could be similar to Mirror's Edge but the game itself is very different."

So there you have it. While the studio might not have said anything official on the project yet, it's hard not to take the head director's word on the fact that a sequel is coming. And soon, from the looks of it. Gamers have waited this long so far, and hopefully their patience will be rewarded soon.